Daily Dispatch 4/26/24: Abbott Seeks To Cast Anti-War Protest As Anti-Semitism, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Travis County Attorney Delia Garza's office will not prosecute any of the 46 trespassing cases resulting from Wednesday's police crackdown at UT Austin: https://thehill.com/homenews/4622384-texas-prosecutor-appeals-ruling-that-tossed-crystal-masons-voting-fraud-conviction/ ...UT president Jay Hartzell releases a second statement: https://www.reddit.com/r/UTAustin/s/dbZOyovi3n ...Similar scenes have unfolded at college campuses across the country: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/25/1247091785/campus-protests-gaza-israel-arrests-usc-emerson-texas ...Progress Texas' statement: https://progresstexas.org/blog/abbott-tramples-our-american-freedoms-speech-and-assembly ...FIRE's statement: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/fire-letter-university-texas-austin-april-25-2024 Governor Abbott has chosen the relatively-moderate U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez over his primary runoff challenger, "the A.K. Guy": https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4620838-texas-governor-abbott-backlash-mass-arrest-ut-austin-pro-palestine-protest/ Outgoing (thankfully) Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has teamed up with Ken Paxton to allow his office to pursue an investigation against three staffers of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/hidalgo-staffers-elevate-strategies-paxton-ogg-19422060.php Not outgoing (unfortunately) Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells wants to reverse the recent acquittal of Crystal Mason on voter fraud charges from the 2016 election: https://thehill.com/homenews/4622384-texas-prosecutor-appeals-ruling-that-tossed-crystal-masons-voting-fraud-conviction/ Don't forget to vote! Early voting for new oversight positions over local tax apprasal districts started yesterday: https://progresstexas.org/blog/why-you-should-care-about-may-appraisal-district-elections Progress Texas invites progressive candidates to share their views with us - which we'll then share with our statewide audience - via our Certified Progressive questionnaire: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-certified-progressives-2024-progressive-values-questionnaire Instagram users: be sure to enable political content on that platform, which has begun opting users out: https://x.com/ProgressTX/status/1771276124498100667?s=20 Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work this election year at https://progresstexas.org/.